The King's Beloved

~ [Music Recommendation: "Mount Pyre" by Yasunori Mitsuda (Chrono Cross OST) - available in Spotify or Youtube] ~ Please listen to it in loop while you read this part to experience the utmost beauty of this scene ~

With a bit of nervousness in their hearts, the team came back to Anguis Solum, and now stood in front of the 8th Gate. Now this gate was made of magma stones and lava formed to make an arch. Just looking at it made one feel hot, though it wasn't really releasing any temperature. By its appearance, the team easily guessed what the next dimension would look like. And indeed, when they hopped into the black hole, what awaited them was none other than … a volcanic ruins.

Everyone spun their heads around the place to observe the area.

"Ughhh, it's hot in here," Luna complained, fanning herself with her tiny hands. "And there's nothing much to see. Just a bunch of cooled molten rocks, deserted land, and some lava traces. What kind of place is this? There's not even a place where we could - "

" - There seems to be a temple far ahead," Rania commented, squinting her eyes trying to look towards the end of the horizon. Indeed, there was a tall structure that looked somewhat like a temple, from the place they were at. The heat haze coming from the ground was blurring the surroundings so it was a bit hard for her to see it properly, but it was there.

Elliot, Luna and Ducis looked towards the direction that Rania pointed out. Elliot had the greatest vision among them, and he confirmed that it was a temple made of marble stones that copied the image of a lava. It was an amazing structure, with high pillars on each corner and an entrance at the middle.

"Hmmm … Aside from Abyss of Nox, and Desert of Saburra, I think this is the first time we're being directed at a temple so easily," Elliot pondered. "Or is it really the actual temple? Maybe it's something else".

"We'll never know until we check it," Rania answered. "Let's go!"

Thus, the team went towards the direction of the temple. It made it hard for them to travel due to all the lava traces left on the ground, and some small, active craters that just spew lava out of nowhere. So instead of walking, they decided to have Ducis carry them again on his back.

"It seems to me that you all have been accustomed to making me a mode of transportation," Ducis complained with a sour look on his face.

"Shut up, dragon!" Luna commanded. "You're my slave right now, remember? You lost the bet, in case you forgot".

"Urgh! Yes, yes, whatever". Without anything to refute her, he was forced to agree. He DID lose the bet and never would a dragon go back on his own words. "I have to endure this little midget since I lost. I can do this! I just need to hang on until this gate ends," he consoled himself.

Ducis transformed himself into a dragon and carried everyone towards the temple. They could have teleported, too, but it was dangerous since they won't be able to guess which landmark was safe to land on. Teleportation only worked on small distances. And since they haven't been to the temple itself, they couldn't create their own black holes to simply bring them instantly to the temple. Black holes could only be cast if the person casting was familiar with the place they would be going to, or had a map like Clavis did.

Not a minute passed and they were already in front of the temple. Ducis transformed himself back into a man after everyone hopped down from his back. The temple was huge, far bigger than how it looked from afar. They had to stretch their neck upwards just to see the end of it. There was a long staircase that led to the main door of the temple. The team climbed it and treaded carefully, just in case there were any traps of some sort. Looking at it up close, this … 'Lava Temple', as what they had all decided to call it, was somewhat different from the other guardian temples. Something about it made them feel uncomfortable for some reasons … and wary.

When they reached the doors of the temple, just as Elliot speculated, it was indeed, not a guardian temple. There were no ancient wordings on the door that Luna had to unlock. Instead, the doors only bore a golden insignia with a body of a chimera etched on it at the center. The knobs of the door were made of a golden lion head, with an also golden, coiled up snake as its knockers.

Elliot knocked on the door twice but there was no answer. So, he pushed the doors open instead, and much to their surprise, it wasn't even locked. They kinda expected it would be locked, given all the other realms they travelled to, but oh well, it was open - convenient. Though if it, being open, was a good news or a bad news, they still didn't know.

"Waaaa," Luna brooded as her jaw dropped in disappointment. "More magma stones … And here I thought this temple would be a bit more decent".

"It's not too hot in here at least," Rania shrugged. 

The inside of the temple looked the same as the outside - made of marble stones that looked like lava. There were tons of pillars that led to different directions inside - one towards the north, another towards the east and the west. Torches of fire hanging on the walls served as lamps, illuminating each path. Aside from the long corridors on each path, there was nothing else to be seen. Not even a clue as to which path they should take.

"Hmm … three paths," Elliot pondered, crossing his arms, and brushing his chin with his hand as he thought. "We're not sure which one leads to where we want it to be. We could try to take one each, but that would be dangerous. We're not sure where each of them leads to".

Rania tried to think of a solution as well.

"Ah!" Rania and Elliot chorused. Startled, they looked towards each other. It seemed that they thought of the same thing.

"Go ahead," Elliot let her speak first.

Rania smiled. "Thank you. Well, I just thought that maybe, you can conjure 3 clones and have them all travel to each one while we stay here and watch. Since they're your clones, maybe there's a way for you to see what they see as well? It's kind of like drones with cameras on it - a human technology".

Elliot snickered. "I thought the same, except for the 'drone' part. I thought of sending them as scouts. And yes, I can do that".

"Hmmmmnnnn," Luna peered over the two. "Rania, Elliot, you two …," her eyes squinted, "You're not flirting are you? I think I made it clear that there would be no flirting until this gate is over?"

"Huh? We're not flirting though," Rania denied. "We were just ... casually talking".

"Hmmm … alright. But I've got my eyes on you two".

Rania chuckled. "Yes, ma'am!"

While they bickered a bit, Elliot busied himself in creating the clones. This time, he used the water clones that he just learned how to create. He thought that they would be the perfect choice considering how hard it was for him to defeat his own clone back at the 7th Gate. After creating them, he instructed each of them to go through the paths, one clone each. Then, he created three mirror-like screens suspended in the air. Each mirror, connected to one clone. As for communication, he could always use Caligo's skill of telepathy should there be a need to contact them.

And so, the clones started walking along the path assigned to them. Rania, Elliot, Luna, and Ducis observed them all from the mirror. At first, the paths looked the same - just a long corridor that the clones walked through. But then, after a few more minutes of walking, all three paths led to … a den of monsters!

"Kyaaa!" Luna screamed when she saw different monsters on each path. "S-s-scarrry!!!" She ran towards Rania's back, shivering from fear.

The eastern path led to a room filled with medium-sized dragons, breathing fire all over the place. The northern path had a giant fire golem that blocked the way. And as for the western path, there were tons of viscous-looking giant salamanders.

"All of the paths are being blocked by monsters. Are we supposed to defeat them in order to proceed to the next?" Rania asked.

"There seems to be no other way," Elliot replied. "It's not like we can tame all of them and they'll let us pass through easily".

"That's true".

"S-so, we're going to fight those monsters?" Luna wailed.

"I'm afraid so, Luna," Rania patted her head. "Now that you mention it, this is the first time we're fighting monsters. They don't think like humans or Magi so I'm not sure how this would turn out".

But Elliot scrapped the idea.

Shrugging, he answered them, "Why do you think you need to fight them? I can just use my clones to defeat all of them".